Polishing Brass, when is enough enough?

eligius1427 - Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 12:14pm

Hi all, I've been polishing brass for the past week or so with fairly good results, but it seems like I could polish forever and not get the last grain marks out. It's not bad in fact it reflects light very well, but up close you can kind of see these foggy lines. My last pass is with white compound on a loose cotton wheel. Could it be the wheel and should i even worry about it since it has to get a glossy clear coat over it anyway?

Jake

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Fouled buff?

B.J. Severtson - Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 2:35pm

Jake,
If you don't thoroughly clean before switching buffs and compounds, then your buff will become fouled by residue of the last compound. With a fouled buff you can chase the proper finish forever. Sounds like it's time to test sample your glossy clear coat. For future reference, get yourself a small magnifying lens or a head set so that you can see what's really happening. Good lighting is also important. Brad

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Thanks B.J., I haven't been

eligius1427 - Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 5:28pm

Thanks B.J., I haven't been cleaning between buffs so that may be it. Is there a particular type of towel or rag I should use? I've been using t-shirt rags bought new which seem to leave marks if I press too hard.

Jake

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shop cloth

B.J. Severtson - Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 6:49pm

Jake,
I like a cotton muslin "baby blanket" as a general cleaning cloth. But between compounds I steam clean the item.. clean!
Another buffing malady Say you have a rectangle. label the top a the bottom b if you always buff parallel to a line ab, because it's easier. You will polish in your scratches from the last compound. Dull ripple effect. Best approach is to buff across all scratches. A rectangle would be buffed 8 directions each at 45 degrees to the previous pass.
Then move to the next compound. That's however not always possible. We do the best we can. I've had people work for me that really enjoyed buffing. I really enjoyed watching.
Brad

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I don't know what scale you

visitor - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 12:50pm

I don't know what scale you are working in but I wash buffing compound off of my objects with hot water and Dawn detergent and dry before changing to a different compound.

marilyn

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jake i don't know what kind

ambition - Saturday, March 15, 2008 - 1:36pm

jake

i don't know what kind of white compound you use but there is a white that can be a bit of a miror shine finish. meaning its not always able to remove deeper scratches from earlyer finisching.
could also be that your buff weel is contaminated by shop steel dus or a rougher compound u used. its a good idea to use two separate buffing weels one for youre rough polishing(usualy my old ones) and one for the fine and keep them somwere clean and away from grinding

but if its a large scale project don't even wory about it. when whe polish sometimes we tend to zoom in to much on our work. just make youre finsish look even and clean.

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